Suffolk Moths Blog

I also put out a trap last night in the garden hoping something may turn up. A check this morning of a soaking wet trap revealed very few moths at all. Only 14sp, 26 moths in all. First year records of Orange sallow, Frosted orange and Lunar underwing (only 3). Commonest moth Feathered ranunculus with 6 noted.

Running 2 traps up in the woods around the worksheds tonight but I’m not too hopeful. A prolonged spell of heavy rain early afternoon has dampened things down and it felt like it was cooling down rapidly while setting up the lights. Nice bright moon in the sky too!

Neil

Well, I followed all of Matthew’s instructions. I put the trap out, I prayed for a bit of a southerly, I didn’t worry too much about the overnight rain etc. and … yes … I did put up with the soggy egg trays this morning …. and my reward …. no migrants …. unless of course I can count the 3 Hirundo rustica that flew over the garden on their way to warmer climes. On the bright side, at least I’m catching a few Lunar Underwing’s.

Trapped with the two mv’s last night, 26 species including season firsts here for Dark Sword-grass 2, Rush Veneer 4. Frosted Orange 2. Black Rustic. Plenty of Lunar Underwing but no Sallows, have only had the Sallow this season to date.

For those of you keen to catch a few migrants at this time of year; I reckon the conditions tonight and tomorrow night look highly suitable with southerly winds forecast and overnight rain.   I’ve found the wet and breezy conditions over the past couple of nights very productive. Don’t worry about a few soggy egg trays and a wet trap, they dry out eventually!  The moths seem to climb up on to the drier parts of the egg trays to escape the damper sections below and are unharmed.

My count of Dark Sword-grass increased to 14 last night!

The recent cooler and wet weather seems to have finished off most of the summer moths that were hanging on.

Autumn moths still in low numbers really. Large Yellow Underwing by far the most numerous moth in the traps currently.

Autumn moths over the past week I’ve been catching include Mallow, Red-green Carpet, Dusky Thorn, Large Thorn, Canary-shouldered Thorn, Large Wainscot, Lunar Underwing, Brown-spot Pinion, Feathered Ranunculus, Sallow, Barred Sallow, Pink-barred Sallow, Frosted Orange, Autumnal Rustic, Black Rustic, Red Underwing and Blair’s Shoulder-knot.

Second-brood L-album Wainscot has been going for a while here now with a peak of 14 moths on the 22 September.

Migrants have included Pearly Underwing (19th), regular Dark Sword-grass (peak of 10 on 23rd) and two Convolvulus Hawk-moth (a male and a female in separate traps on 23rd) with a sprinkling of the more commoner migrants.

I recorded a good count of 8 Red-green carpet in the trap I ran in the garden on the night of the 20th. Not many of what I would call the autumnal species seem to be appearing here yet, had no Lunar underwing (normally abundant at this time of year) or any of the other sallow species apart from 2 of the Sallow (on the 15th). First Chestnut noted on this night too. I’ve also picked up a singleton of the second brood of L-Album wainscot (17th). Not looking too promising for running traps for the next few days with some much needed rain arriving.

Neil

I had three fresh L-album Wainscot in the trap on Thursday night, first I’ve seen of the second brood this year. Nothing too much else of interest in the trap apart from the usual fare, still quite good numbers of moths around though.

Tony